On October 7, Alcudia Town Hall, the Council of Mallorca, the Balearic Government, Red Eléctrica and local residents will all be represented at a meeting of a so-called coordination group that will seek to reach consensus for the land route to be taken by the electricity cable (cables, as there are two of them) from the mainland. The final destination, as has been understood ever since the Spanish Government and Red Eléctrica presented the project more than two years ago, will be the Sant Martí substation on the industrial estate close to the Es Murterar power station.
In addition, there is a 45-day public information process for the environmental impact study. According to Red Eléctrica, this has the aim of "defining a project with consensus and finding the best solution from a technical, social and environmental point of view".
Consensus, consensus, consensus. Worthies including President Prohens gathered in the council chamber two months ago for the signing of a document that was for an agreement in principle, for which there was consensus (so it was said). Was there? And what for? They all applauded this historic agreement, some - e.g. the president - rather more enthusiastically than others, such as the president of Vecinos de Alcudia Afectados por el Cable, Sebastià Pujol. The association of residents affected by the cable was insisting the cable doesn't pass near any urban or residential area, or that in the event that it does, safety measures must be taken to the extreme. One couldn't help but feel that the residents had been somewhat bounced into this consensus, whatever it was.
The specific point of entry now seems to be definitive - Sa Ferradura, which lies between S'Illot and the Bonaire marina on the Bay of Pollensa. The choice of Sa Ferradura, says the government and Red Eléctrica, is because of the "lack of impact" on posidonia meadows. Which is quite probably the case. Maps of posidonia clearly show areas where there is negligible posidonia off the Bay of Pollensa coast. It's why S'Illot was first proposed.
The maritime route seemingly now no longer under discussion, with or without consensus, the challenge now becomes the land route to the substation, taking account of environmental and health concerns that have been expressed. There are apparently thirteen alternatives, five of them proposed by Red Eléctrica; the other eight are from a mix of the town hall, the Council and the government.
The company suggests there is agreement (or maybe it's consensus) "to incorporate changes in order to prioritise a route that runs, to a large extent, along Council of Mallorca roads". In this regard, however, these roads don't include the Alcanada road, by which the high-tension cable from Sant Martí to the port had to be laid some years ago after all the objections regarding the route along C. Teodor Canet. Nor will it include Council roads by which the cable could feasibly be laid all the way to Sant Martí. This is because entry in Puerto Alcudia has never been given serious consideration. It's all that posidonia.
As one understands it - and it does take some understanding - there is a preferred route that will take the cable along roads such as Avda. Mal Pas and Camí Hort dels Moros before emerging on the main Alcudia-Puerto Pollensa coast road. It seems it would then go along a couple of lanes before joining that section of the MA-13 that runs past the Cepsa petrol station. Rather than then following the main roads all the way past the Puig Sant Martí to the industrial estate, it would turn off at the intersection for Tucan, pass along the Camí Puig and Pedro Mas y Reus and on to C. Can Vauma, thus bisecting Bellevue before being diverted to the industrial estate. From what one can make out, this final stretch past Bellevue is the only part that conforms to the layout for the existing high-tension cable.
I have seen a report suggesting that the route could affect part of Pollensa. There may well be an option that does, though for the life of me I can't understand why - it would be going in the wrong direction.
Stressing that the route I've outlined here isn't definitive, one returns to a question of consensus. Some of the route will not take the cable close to houses, but an entry point on the Bay of Pollensa, unless it were at Sa Marina (which the town hall did once propose), is bound to mean that it will. Bonaire, Morer Vermell, Barcares will all be affected.
We'll see what the coordination group makes of this. Meanwhile, one party at the town hall - El Pi - has suggested that the mayor, Fina Linares, knew that the entry point would be the Bay of Pollensa despite her having said that she didn't know what the route would be. El Pi emphasise that residents protested against the Bay of Pollensa and that the mayor's party, the Partido Popular, supported the residents.
Consensus? There never will be. But in the meantime, there is plenty to digest - nine whole pages in the press on Friday. This document is in respect of the request for "initial" administrative authorisation and it itemises all relevant parties implicated in the environmental impact study both in Valencia and in Mallorca. The municipality of Pollensa is included in this list as well as Alcudia, though I remain baffled as to why. Red Eléctrica having gone to the trouble of asking the Spanish Government's delegation in the Balearics to publish all this does perhaps indicate that the company has a pretty clear idea as to the route.